The Dreamer
by chizube
Summary: Revised. Once upon a time, a girl does not fall down a well. Higurashi-centric.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: The Dreamer  
**Summary**: Once upon a time, a girl does not fall down a well. Fairytales are more fluid than Souta could have imagined, and the butterfly effect a dangerous, unstable concept.  
**Pairings:** None  
**Categories**: Gen, Drama  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Author's Notes**: Yet another "For-want-of-a-nail" story. This is an author's shameless exercise in futility, I mean self-indulgence. I'll probably mess this up halfway through the exposition. Enjoy, I guess.

**The Dreamer****:**

_Hatsuyume_

**Chapter Summary**: The wrong person, in the right place and at the right time. Curiosity kills the cat.

**Additional Notes**: (This is also an extended metaphor. At least, it tries to be.)

* * *

Souta had started to get tired of sitting at the table with his grandfather, who was currently burrowed within a pile of old papers and books. He loved to listen to Jii-chan talk about the strange and wonderful stories that came up in his reading, but today he didn't even look up from the yellowed pages. Souta tried to read along for a little bit as well, but he quickly got lost in the dense text and lack of pictures. What was the point of words on a page if you couldn't understand them?

He was trying to decide whether it was worth a scolding from his mother to sneak outside and play before getting ready for school when suddenly the cat darted between the legs of his chair.

Now, Buyo, as the family cat was called, didn't really do much and took idleness to an art form , but he was known to make wild dashes whenever a suitable motivation was provided (namely food and the occasional dog).

As it turned out, neither was present, and this made Souta curious.

He leapt from his seat and ran after the cat without another thought, clearing the front door before his mother could even think to ask what he was up to.

The cat made straight for the old shed that stood on the other side of the garden, and he was just in time to see his tail disappear inside.

In another life, he might have hesitated at the door and even tried to lure the cat out, but this time he ran straight into the well house. The light from the doorway behind him cast long, heavy shadows against the walls and floor. Slowly, he turned back toward the door and held back a shudder.

He felt like someone else was supposed to be here with him….

While looking around blindly, two steps from leaving the house, he heard a noise from behind him. It had to be the cat, he thought, and he turned on his heel sharply.

The edge of the well was high enough to catch him across the knees, but low enough that he tumbled right over into the hole before he could stop himself.

Souta didn't have time to even scream when he found himself in the middle of a bright blue light. He looked around at the sparks that hung close to him and reached out hesitantly; it was like a shimmering curtain that parted immediately at his touch. The light wrapped itself closer around him, growing warmer with every passing moment. Soon it was pressing in on him; it was like being underwater.

_I'm not drowning?_ he wondered as he fell, _and isn't the well dry, anyway? What's going on?_

He began to notice that he had been falling for a while; maybe the well was deeper than he had first realized. He didn't exactly make it a habit to come in here on a regular basis, after all. Or he could be falling really slowly. Either one felt like an equally possible reason.

_I've never been so brave before_, he said to himself. _This must be how heroes act all the time. Nothing could possibly scare them._

Being a hero was something he had wanted for a long time. He couldn't remember when it had started, but now even his dreams were filled with adventure and swordfights and saving people from youkai. A smile spread across his face. Adventure didn't have to be that far. He could find Buyo and bring him home safe and sound. He could be brave for once, and do something heroic without asking for help.

_And I'll start by finding out what's on the other side of this light._

Just as suddenly, the light was gone, and Souta found himself staring up at the plain ceiling high above him, surrounded by darkness like black ink.

This wasn't a fairytale anymore.

* * *

**A/N:** Anyone who's familiar with Charles Dodgson's work will recognize the initial setup. The rest of this work will not be so blatantly inspired by children's literature. I hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Dreamer: **

_Chapter One_

**Chapter Summary: **Souta's dreams comes true. Be careful what you wish for…

**Additional Notes**: I tried to make this more interesting. It was probably more fun for me than for you, dear reader. (I would advise you to read closely, but right now I'll just be thankful with you reading it at all. Thank you.)

* * *

_Thump-thump._

His hands and knees were stinging with superficial scrapes, and his head throbbing, but that was nothing compared to the pounding in his chest. Like a hammer, his heart beat within his ribcage until he thought that he would explode with the pressure. He took a deep breath and wished that he had turned around at the door and gone to get help; now, he couldn't even bring himself to move.

He hated the dark.

Deciding that this had all been a really bad idea, Souta finally stood on shaky legs and looked back up at the mouth of the well. The ceiling seemed to hang lower than usual, especially since he had fallen down far. If he didn't know better, he was sure that he could climb up and touch it-

"You….you cheated me of my prize."

He froze.

The voice was a woman's voice, echoing in the stale air of the well shaft. He couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but it turned out that he didn't have to. One by one, he began to feel hands coming to rest on his shoulders, his arms...more hands than one person should logically have. She, or they, were right behind him.

"What did you do with it? Where is the Shikon?"

The hands gripping his sides tightened when he didn't answer, but then they fell away as the woman laughed lightly. A long silence fell over them, one in which Souta thought that he had imagined the entire thing. He sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment and vowing to stay away from horror games in the future. _It's a lot different when you aren't sitting safe and sound in the living room with a controller in your hands, _he thought as he fixed a wavery stare at his feet, willing himself to relax. _Mom was right; no more monster games for me.. _When he raised his head and looked back up, chiding himself for being such a scaredy-cat, she was there, her face mere inches away from his own.

"That was rightfully mine," she said in that same gentle voice, a polite smile on her face. "You know, don't you?"

"Who are you?" He was surprised that he managed to get the words out without stammering or whimpering. The woman looked like an ordinary woman with her pale skin and long dark hair; nothing stood out about her. He could only see her face and shoulders, which seemed strange enough even in the dark, but then he realized what really bothered him about her.

She smiled wider, and the insanity shone clearly in her dark eyes.

"You want a name?" she giggled, her voice a little higher. "It won't do you any good, but I can be gracious about it…I am known as Mistress Centipede -"

His mouth went dry.

The woman's body appeared as she spoke, revealed bit by bit, inch by terrifying inch. She stood naked, a ghostly pale woman from the waist up, and that was where the similarities between her and an ordinary woman ended. Three pairs of long, slender arms hung at her sides, the same hands that had been grabbing him earlier. From the waist down, her body was thick, serpentine, and reminded him a lot of a centipede, if one were ever to grow to such a monstrous size. She had him cornered, all loose coils and twitching, numerous rows of legs.

The monster grinned, revealing long, sharp teeth, and she repeated, "You cheated me, didn't you?"

He wanted to say that he hadn't done anything to her and that he didn't even know what this Shikon thing was, but his mouth was glued shut. She didn't seem annoyed by this; instead, her grin only got bigger.

"Don't worry, I'm very flexible," she cooed, and her body rippled in response. "It's not much, but you'll do for now, _cricket_." Her tongue darted out from between her lips and she eyed him hungrily.

Souta began to back up as much as he could without getting close to her many legs. His back hit the wall after two steps, but Mistress Centipede only drew closer, leering over his hunched form. He could only stare back tearfully, trembling from head to foot and panting like he had just run a mile.

"It shouldn't hurt too much, but really, it's your fault for stealing, you naughty little thing."

He couldn't see her face anymore, the tears were blurring his vision. What was he supposed to do? This was real, life-threatening danger, and he was about to lose his life. All he wanted was to be home and find out that this had all just been a bad dream. He clenched his eyes shut and let out a dry sob, wondering whether anyone at home would notice that he was gone. _Please, come save me._

Home. Someone had to notice if he screamed, right? He couldn't die here; he didn't want to die at all. Mom, Jii-chan, Buyo (even if the cat had landed him in this mess), his friends, they were too important to him. He wanted to see them again.

Souta ducked away and slipped past her purely on reflex; he felt like he was running on autopilot when he scrambled over her coils and avoided her grasp until he was free. Making a mad dash to the ladder leading up to the top of the well, he scrambled up the steps before she could catch up. She was close behind, her long body making a terrifying sound as her legs worked in unison to move her forward. Heart beating wildly in his chest, he forced himself to move faster and reach the top.

_Just a litt-_

"No."

The ceiling had been too low, he realized, because it wasn't a ceiling at all. Frantically, Souta tried the knob, too scared to wonder when Jii-chan had put the cover back on the well. Right now, he didn't even care.

"Open, _please_," he begged, rattling the knob uselessly before giving up and pounding on the locked door.

It wouldn't budge. Horrified, Souta slammed his shoulder into the door, panting and screaming as loud as he could. ""Jii-chan, open the door! Jii-chan, Mom, anyone! Please, let me out! Let me out!_ Please_!"

"Oh, look at how the flea flees…" the monster cackled, wrenching him away from the door. "But enough of that; I'm tired of playing with you."

Her sneer widened until all he could see were fangs.

"Let's eat."

Souta knew that he was going to die there, because he really had no idea what he had asked for when he wished to have a more exciting life, to have adventures, to fight monsters like he was actually a hero. In his dreams and imagination he had brought down giants and faced the strongest villains that his mind could conjure, but here he was weak and helpless, and so very scared.

_What are you scared of? _

His eyes snapped open. Souta lay sprawled on the ground, wondering who was screaming and why he could have sworn he had just seen a flash of light only seconds ago. He sat up carefully, his headache flaring up when he moved and dizziness blurring everything around him. Above him, the youkai reeled in pain, though it wasn't until she turned back in his direction that he saw the ruined remains of her second pair of arms. He was certain that he hadn't done a thing to cause it, but Mistress Centipede was not.

"You little pest! Now you really asked for it!" she snarled, shooting towards him with claws outstretched.

_Aren't you a man? Now go!_

The plan was half-formed in his mind when he stood, and he was running for the top of the well again, her indignant cries right behind him. She moved quickly, fluid and deadly at the same time. If he could lure her to the door again, that speed could become her downfall. _If not, she might just break the door open for me_, he thought, turning around to face her. The doorknob pressed into his side as he struggled to stay right in front of the door.

Her features had twisted in her rage, and she was looking more and more like the monster that she was.

"_Insect_! I'll tear you to pieces, you rotten little _vermin_!"

His heart wasn't racing anymore; instead, he felt as though he had swallowed ice and it had settled in the pit of his stomach, frozen. He almost didn't move away in time when his legs refused to cooperate and his hands started shaking again. It was only when a warm spark out of seemingly nowhere jolted his body that he remembered to drop down, and then Mistress Centipede barreled into the door.

Souta turned his head to look up when instead of a loud crash he heard an explosion. His eyes widened. She had hit the door, yes, but it looked like the door had fought back. Light crackled and shattered the air around them; the heat was intense where Souta hung, a few rungs below the door. Mistress Centipede writhed and screamed in the middle of something he could only describe as blue fireworks. It felt just like the light that had carried him to the bottom of the well. _Could they be somehow connected? Why is it doing this to her?_ Finally, he had to look away from the blinding light and wait for it to end.

They hit the ground at the same time, Mistress Centipede in a crumpled heap on the dirt ground, motionless and burned beyond recognition, and Souta standing numbly over her with a stricken expression. He stared at the body for a long time, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Wrapping his arms around himself, he looked around the well in fear, the place seemingly so much colder than before. The silence was horrible and threatening, looming all around him. He had to break it.

"I-I'm alive," he said, and then he sank to his knees and cried.

**c.**

His sobs ended much faster than he had imagined they would. He hadn't believed that he could ever stop crying again, not after what had happened.

_Come on, you're still being such a baby_, he scolded himself. _Would a hero bawl his eyes out after defeating the bad guy?_

Without thinking, he glanced back at Mistress Centipede and burst into a fresh wave of tears.

"I-I don't want to kill the bad guy," he hiccupped, wiping his nose messily on his sleeve. "I just want to go home, b-but I can't even open the stupid door!"

Leaning against the wall for support, Souta struggled to his feet and yelled, "Can't anyone hear me? I'm trapped in a hole with a dead monster for company! Let me out already!"

He pulled away from the wall, tearing out a handful of dirt as he did so. That stopped him straight in his tracks, and he wondered if the whole well could end up collapsing in on him. _That _would _happen, wouldn't it? Only me…_

It was then that he caught a glint of light in the small gap in the wall, glittering through his tears like a beacon. He reached into the crevice, digging through the shifting dirt with clumsy fingers, until his hand closed over something cool and hard.

A smile quirked at the corner of his mouth as he tried decide if this was some kind of complicated setup or if he was still dreaming, turning the tiny key over in his hand.

"_Deus ex machina._"


	3. Chapter 3

**The Dreamer:**

_Chapter Two_

**Chapter Summary: **Sleeping princesses come with kisses. Sleeping hanyou come with…angry, thick-browed girls and entire forests with malicious, invisible forces. Souta still can't figure out if this is real or not.

**Additional Notes**: I really like setup, as you can probably tell. Things are about to get crazier.

* * *

The door was a heavy western-style slab that could have been considered beautiful when it was first made, but the gilded panels had faded and peeled over time, leaving the wood exposed underneath the gold paint. A sort of soft warmth emanated from the door but its twisted, spiraling patterns, when he brushed his fingertips lightly across the raised surfaces, were cool to the touch. If he pulled back just enough, he thought that they looked almost like lacework. He slid the key into the lock distractedly, trying to figure out why the door was there in the first place. A cover he could understand; Jii-chan regularly replaced the covering on the mouth of the well to keep people from getting hurt, but an old battered door?

"Probably fell into an old fashioned fairytale," he joked quietly to himself, turning the key and knob every which way in hopes of getting it to budge (it didn't). "Next thing you know the door will open itself just to-"

_Click._

The knob twisted suddenly in his grasp, and with a loud bang the door swung open, leaving Souta grasping at the wooden rim of the well just to keep from falling down. A new kind of light burst in, glowing white from the sun, and he found himself blinking rapidly in the late morning sun. Wincing as his world went from shadows and gloom to pure daylight, he took in a huge breath of fresh, fresh air. That should have made him pause but the only thing he cared about at this point was getting out of the well. It was only as his vision cleared up that he began to notice something wasn't right.

"This…isn't my house."

He clung to the edge of the well, unable to bring himself to climb out just yet, and slowly, very slowly, Souta gave a cursory glance around the clearing he found himself in, at the thick grass and wild brush growing freely, and his gaze fell on the far edge of the unfamiliar space, where the beginnings of a great, lush forest and the distant mountaintops were the only things in sight. Somewhere close by, a creek was babbling within the chatter and rustle of the woods.

_I could…jump back down there,_he thought, looking back down the shaft_. Maybe it's a two-way thing?_

It was a possibility, but he wasn't looking forward to meeting the corpse at the bottom. Would it follow him back home? She _was_ dead, wasn't she? And come to think of it, where was the body? When he looked down the well, all he could see was a pitch black emptiness hovering below his foot. Not even the brilliant sunlight seemed capable of penetrating the ominous darkness. Swinging his legs over the wall, Souta tumbled out of the well and into a dusty heap on the ground, deciding that the woods were the lesser of two evils. He had just taken two wobbly steps out into the woods when there was a sudden slam, and he whirled around just as the door clicked back into place over the well. Mystified, he glanced down at the key in his hand and pocketed it, just in case.

It was peaceful within the forest, dark and cool and quiet. He thought it was strange that nothing seemed to live here, neither people nor animals, but as long as nothing tried to kill him he wouldn't complain. It certainly wasn't anything like Tokyo. Instead of heavy traffic and the chatter of huge crowds of people, the sound of birds and buzzing insects filled the air.

No matter where he looked, he couldn't find any of the familiar landmarks near his house. As he was just beginning to despair, Souta came upon a smaller clearing filled with sunlight. It was deathly still; even the birdsong had cut off. He stopped at the foot of the great tree in the center, realizing that it looked familiar. Just like home.

Goshinboku stood as tall and proud as it always had, maybe even grander than he remembered. It looked younger and fuller, its leaves bright and beautiful against the sunlit sky. No scars or gashes covered its trunk, especially not its most distinguishing mark about halfway up the tree. In its stead was something quite different.

(Not for the first time he got the feeling that someone else was supposed to be here in his place.)

The boy was bound to the tree, vines wrapping tightly around his legs and torso and arms. An arrow jutted out from his chest, buried deep within the red traditional clothing he wore. He looked young despite the long tangles of silver hair framing his face and falling over his shoulders. The ears had him doing a double take (were those dog ears?), but despite all that, it was the boy's face that drew him in. Souta climbed the gnarled tree roots twisting above ground in order to get near him. There was something about him that felt sad and forlorn, but his face looked so peaceful for someone who met a death like this.

Souta stared at him with a frown, wondering how the boy had met his end here.

"It must have hurt," he said, sinking down to rest at the boy's feet and remembering his own encounter with the centipede. "Was it in the middle of battle? Or an ambush? Didn't you have anyone to bury you?"

He sighed and hugged his arms to his sides. "I couldn't imagine it. I was so scared back there; I thought, 'what if I die today? Who will find me?'"

_Who will find me out here…like I found you?_

When Souta next looked up, the afternoon sun was high overhead and his stomach was grumbling its empty discontent; he slowly raised his head from his arms and blinked wearily, eyes stinging in the intense hot light that flooded into the clearing. He remembered what had roused him and looked to his right, where a shadow rested across his arm.

He had time only to notice the girl to whom the shadow clung to before a jolt drew him out of his daze, bringing him face to face with a sharp stare and scowling blue eyes.

"You can't be here," the girl hissed, wrenching him to his feet and shoving him away from the tree. "You have to get out of here."

Souta could only gape wordlessly, tears still drying in trails on his cheeks. With an angry sigh and a quick glance over her shoulder, the girl grabbed his arm and dragged him across the clearing, apparently intent on seeing him out of there immediately. "Come on, can't you use your legs?"

Suddenly, a rush of wind whistled through the trees, sweeping around Souta like the light from the well, but this time he felt like he couldn't breathe. He was frozen, staring into blinding darkness wherever he looked, with only the same high-pitched trill echoing in his ears. It was the girl's tightening grip on his arm that jerked him out of that trance. "Move!"

They raced through the forest, and Souta felt as though they were stumbling blindly around the many twisting paths. Every stone was a tumbling block, and every branch snagged at his clothes and held him back, but the girl's grip on his arm towed him onward, and soon the woods became lighter, a small path forming as they ran. Midway down the path he saw the bright tags of a shrine talisman fluttering in the distance; a red _torii_ came into view next, and then the girl in front of him stopped without warning. Just in time, it seemed, because he found himself at the edge of a steep slope, stony and littered with clumps of grass.

At the foot of the drop lay a little shrine, guarded by the red gate he saw and nestled in a small cluster of trees. It was simple and modest, like the _Berufurawā_hidden away in the corner of his family shrine. A second drop just beyond the gate caught his eye, and he could see what appeared to be the top of a roof below that. _Wooden roofs,_he thought,_mean houses, and maybe a village too?_

"D-do you-" he croaked and winced, wishing that he didn't seem so weak and helpless in front of this stranger. The girl glanced down at him with a quizzical look, then seemed to realize that she was still holding Souta's arm and flinched back as though burned. It was such a normal, funny reaction to an awkward situation that Souta laughed. Her cheeks reddened, and pouting, she looked away.

"Sorry, it's nothing," Souta said, partly to reassure her. _She's not so scary. _ "Just, do you live here?"

The forest crooned quietly behind them, but up ahead the sounds of a village drifted up from the valley, and yet from the girl there was only silence. He thought that he wouldn't get an answer and was steeling up to head into the village alone, but then the girl stopped him, grasping his shoulders tightly and looking as though she was struggling to figure out what to say.

"Yeah, I guess so." It wasn't the most reassuring reply, but at least she was talking again. "You…you shouldn't have gone in there alone."

"The forest?" he asked, confused. "I didn't mean to; it just kind of happened."

The girl's heavy brows drew together, and she snapped, "Well, don't let it happen! Inuyasha's Forest is dangerous and off-limits, unless you have some kind of death wish."

"Oh…um, okay." Souta looked down at the incline leading to the shrine and tested his luck on it. He had one foot forward when he slipped and almost plunged straight down the ravine, but something snagged the back of his shirt and dragged him back.

"You _are_ trying to get yourself killed, aren't you?" The girl glared at him and dumped him on the ground. "At least pick a good path and walk like you know how to use those things!" She shot a pointed look at Souta's muddied legs. Without waiting for him to reply, she bounded down the hill like a rabbit, leaving him to watch from the edge of the steep drop. She reached the bottom and whirled around, smugly crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not gonna carry you down from there, kid."

Souta set his jaw and took a deep breath. _Come on, you survived a giant centipede lady. This is nothing. _He remembered the girl's path and plotted out his steps before taking the plunge. The ground shifted quickly underneath his feet and he dug his heels in a few times to keep from pitching forward, hands grasping at the dry grass and rocks and anything that could slow him down. After managing to descend the slippery slope without falling or breaking his legs on the way down, Souta planted his fists on his hips and frowned up at the girl.

"You don't have to," he said simply, though his heart was still racing and his knees felt like jelly.

She shook her head in disbelief and amusement. "I wouldn't have actually left you up there," she confessed. "You could have waited; I was going to go back for you."

Souta felt his cheeks grow hotter. "That would have been a nice thing to know before I used the hill as a hopscotch board."

"Hm," she said noncommittally, and they looked away as an awkward silence fell over them again. Souta let his gaze drift toward the shrine as he mulled over what to say. He opened his mouth to speak, and it seemed that the girl had the same intention. They faltered over their words and winced, falling silent again.

"Uh…you go first," Souta said, amazed that he was having a regular conversation in the middle of such a strange adventure. He supposed even in this place he had to deal with awkward silences and even more awkward introductions too.

"I'm Akiko," the girl blurted, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "And I didn't mean to scare you before…at the tree, I mean."

"It's fine," he smiled, and his stomach chose that moment to give a huge, long moan. His smile became apologetic. "Um…but maybe you can make it up with lunch?"

"I can do that," Akiko nodded, trying to hide a smirk and failing. "We need to go see Kaede-sama first. Come on."

He followed her toward the _torii_, the promise of food making him dizzy and reminding him that he had missed breakfast in this whole fiasco. He wondered where Buyo was, and if the cat had ended up on this side of the well with him. _Food first, then cat._

"What's your name, kid?"

He glanced up from his shuffling feet. "Oh, um…Higurashi Souta."

Akiko stared at him, her head tilted in uncertainty.

"What?"

Her eyes narrowed at Souta. "Nothing, it's just a stupid name."

_I wonder if that fat cat really is worth all of this trouble._

* * *

**Spoiler:** The fat cat really is worth all of this trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Dreamer:**

_Chapter Three_

**Chapter Summary: **Souta is confirmed to be one hundred percent human. And he is probably allergic to exorcisms.

**Additional Notes**: If you were reading this story before this chapter went up, I might suggest re-reading the last couple of chapters. I apologize; there was a bit of a rewriting craze recently, among other real life events. Hopefully I don't take forever with the rest of the story. Thank you for reading.

* * *

Kaede-sama, as it turned out, was a fifty-something-year-old with a cruel streak, or as Akiko referred to her, the village priestess. Frankly, Souta was less than thrilled to meet her, and not just because of the woeful state of his appearance, muddy pajamas and messy hair and all.

He was doubled over in a coughing fit in front of the pair, the aftermath of an exorcism surrounding him. Akiko stiffly patted his back in a weak attempt to soothe him, though she probably didn't know what else to do.

"Not youkai, but terribly weak," he heard the priestess' stern voice, and a handful of dust spilled over his head. "That's for your constitution, boy."

When he managed to lift his head the old woman was waiting with one of the sternest expressions he had ever seen, her only visible eye looking incredibly unimpressed. He glared at her through streaming eyes, hands resting on his knees as he tried to get some semblance of control over his breathing. Somewhere behind him, Akiko shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"I-I'm…s-sorry, but what?"

She shook her head, brow furrowing underneath the thin strap of her eyepatch. "None too bright either. Your health, boy; with a spirit like that you're just a quick meal for a hungry demon."

He opened his mouth to inform her that he had in fact just dealt with a youkai, but he was still too shaken up by the experience to boast about it. He didn't know if he ever would. Instead, Souta clenched his fists in his shirt and took a deep breath.

"Wh-what made you think I was a demon?" he asked, trying to hold back another cough itching in the back of his throat. "I don't think I look-"

"One can never be too careful when dealing with youkai," Kaede interrupted with a shake of her head, moving to the fire pit on the other side of the room. "You may think that those fearsome beasts you'll find out in the wild are dangerous enough, but-"

She carefully poured out a steaming pot of tea into three cups set around the fire, nodding to the two children to join her. "You will find that the most frightening and deadly of demons are those that are more human than you can imagine."

Souta looked down into his cup and frowned. He hadn't imagined that anything could be worse than Mistress Centipede. Deciding that he wasn't in the mood to find out, he closed his eyes and drank deeply, the hot liquid soothing his sore throat. "Mm, this is really good tea."

Kaede seemed to brighten at that; her eyes crinkled at the corner, and her mouth curved upward. "Thank you; I don't often treat anyone to my sister's special tea. She would be very flattered."

"I'll be sure to tell her that," he promised, while behind him Akiko scoffed.

"It's just boiled grass," she grumbled, tearing into a chunk of bread with her teeth and tossing the rest at Souta. "S'what all tea comes down to."

Souta watched her down her tea in one gulp and sighed, taking careful little bites from the bread. "What would your mother say about your manners?"

"Don't have one."

He bit his tongue and winced. "Sorry."

Kaede set her cup down with a slight clack, observing the exchange quietly. "I too do not wish to waste time with formalities," she said, and the children snapped to attention. "Souta, you were at Goshinboku when Akiko found you, is that correct?"

"Um, yes?" He looked at Akiko unsurely, and she shrugged at him.

"It's why she thought you might be a demon, but I told her you were okay."

Souta picked at his food, suddenly realizing why the priestess was so suspicious of him. He remembered something Akiko had mentioned about the forest earlier, and Jii-chan's stories sprang to the forefront of his mind. "That forest is haunted, isn't it?" he asked, somehow not as scared as he thought he would have been. "Does it have something to do with the boy on the tree?"

Kaede's eye narrowed, and she folded her hands on her lap stiffly. "How did you find this place, Souta? I respect Akiko's judgment to an extent, but you have to understand that I have a village that depends on me. Are you a spy from a neighboring daimyo?"

"What, no!" He held his hands up in a peaceable gesture. "I was only following my cat when I ended up here."

"You risked your life for a cat?" Akiko snorted. "So that dumb look of yours isn't just for show."

"Akiko, please I'd like to keep things civil." Kaede sighed heavily. "Remain here and watch over the villagers, Souta and I are going on a stroll."

The girl crossed her arms and huffed, but she didn't follow them when they left the little hut. Souta glanced back at her as the screen door flapped shut; Akiko was facing the wall and all he could see was her back, rigid and straight. He almost went back for her.

"She doesn't mean the things she says," Kaede apologized, leading him back up the steps leading to the strange little shrine Akiko had first led him to. "It's her way of keeping everyone at a distance."

"Because of her parents?" Souta followed her to the shrine marker and watched her kneel, resting her bow and arrows at her side. Even for a walk she was prepared for anything, he thought. "It's fine, I don't care. I just feel bad for her."

Kaede chuckled softly. "I wouldn't let her hear you say that," she warned gently. "But you've probably realized that, unless you're perception is as good as your common sense."

He heard the sarcasm in her voice and bristled, having been on the receiving end of this kind of response more often than he wanted to admit. Pouting, he looked away.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," he muttered, sneaking a glance back at the delicate blue flowers Kaede was cradling in her palm. "Did you know Kikyo?"

At this, her back stiffened like a rod, and he knew that he had hit the bull's eye. "…clever boy, you noticed?"

"I live on a shrine," he replied easily, crouching down beside the old priestess. "My grandfather's a priest, and I've been hearing about nothing but _kami-no-michi_ since I could say _'hai, Jii-chan'_."

"I see," Kaede murmured, placing the bellflowers into a little vase and setting it on the grave. "Well, Souta; I have a feeling that your story is going to be an interesting one."

"That makes one of us," he sighed. "My life has been pretty boring, besides today. And even though I just had the adventure of a lifetime, all I've been thinking of is how to get back home."

The priestess placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.

"We have the rest of the afternoon. Let's put it to good use."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Dreamer:**

_Chapter Four_

**Chapter Summary: **Good company turns out to be pretty easy to find, but good conflict arrives unexpectedly.

* * *

The sentiment was heartfelt, but sadly nothing really came of it. Souta only remembered answering Kaede's questions dutifully, the conversation nothing but a tired blur as the shadows of the afternoon crept around them. Something told him that it wouldn't have helped, and he wondered where that thought came from. Akiko's arrival cut short the brief exchange and he knew that the priestess had been called away when the space next to him was suddenly occupied by gangly limbs and faded rags. He and Akiko sat there in silence for a good while, as the aching behind his eyes became unbearable and his back slumped with exhaustion. Quietly, he stole a glance at the girl and found her sitting up straight, her back a rigid line in the dying daylight. Sunbeams had never looked like magic before.

Sharp blue eyes were watching the horizon when she spoke to him.

"Are you done moping?"

He blinked, the action aggravating his headache. Everything aggravated his headache. "I don't feel right," he mumbled, wishing that he either had the energy to keep pushing himself onward or that he could pass out right now. "My head feels funny."

"I don't think it's just your head, kid," he thought she teased; it could have been his mind playing tricks on him. "You don't seem like the sensible, sane type."

"You trusted me," he pointed out, closing his eyes against the haze. "Or at least, you told Kaede-sama that you did."

"Mm, I did."

"Why?" To his surprise, the pain ebbed away slowly, though it lingered at the corners of his eyes and in the back of his head. "You just met me, a complete stranger, in the middle of a forbidden forest that's also haunted, I guess. Why would you defend me?"

"I told you already in front of Kaede-sama; I knew that you were okay. My instinct is never wrong."

She was hiding something, but Souta was too tired to try to figure out what that was. Instead, he replayed the last day's events in his head while she smirked at him, self-satisfied that he had fallen silent. And then he realized something else.

"You weren't supposed to be in the woods either," Souta said, sitting up straighter. "What were you doing there when you found me?"

Akiko had a deer-in-headlights look on her face. "Um, yeah…it's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

Souta's gaze didn't waver. "Try me."

"Look, you didn't explain exactly how you got to Inuyasha's tree either," she groused, balling up her fists in her lap. "So don't give me that look, rule breaker."

He imagined that his smile grew wide and smug, because she shoved his shoulder impatiently and looked away. "I'm pretty sure I didn't break the rules knowingly."

"Tch, whatever," she said, and they stared at the sunset again, reaching a lull in the conversation. The sun went from being only a distant orange smear on the horizon to completely vanished within minutes.

"It's late," he noted, getting to his feet as the first stars made their appearance. "Shouldn't you get home?"

"I only sleep indoors when it gets cold. Usually the old shed that no one uses by the rice fields. It's warm tonight, and the ground is comfortable enough."

"Does your family let you do that?"

"They're gone. All of them. Geez, your head _is_ in the clouds."

Souta was speechless. He thought that she at least had a grandparent, an aunt, uncle, _someone_ to live with her. Was there no one who would take her in?

"Don't look at me like that," she muttered, kicking out at him until he sank down next to her, folding his legs neatly underneath him and trying to keep his clothes dry in the dew-damp grass . "I don't remember any of them, anyway."

"That's not what I meant," he said, giving up and settling back down in the grass with abandon. "It's just…isn't it lonely, Akiko?"

She sat up and gave him a disapproving stare.

"You are the most sentimental boy I've ever met," Akiko said. "No one cares about that."

"I do."

Souta looked up at the darkening sky, a frown tugging at his lips. "I have a really nice life, with lots of friends, family who cares about me, and an amazing home," he admitted. "I've never known what it feels like to not belong."

This time he remembered every word clearly, the pauses and breaths in the story he told her about where he came from, how he had chased the cat down a well and the magic that carried him to this time and world, the way he had almost died at the hands of the youkai. He recounted the life before this morning, when being a hero was something amazing and fun and incredibly unattainable, and adventure and magic was just a dream.

Akiko let him talk without interrupting once; her eyes were shining in the starlight brightly, and he couldn't seem to look away. He wondered how many nights she had spent looking at the village from the outside by herself. Slowly, he trailed off from speaking and just stared at her.

_I'll go home eventually._

Akiko's brows knit together.

_But you won't._

She bit her lip and dropped her gaze, murmuring something that could have been "don't pity me" but might have been something else entirely.

Souta figured out what he was trying to say and shook his head. _No, I don't pity you._ "You're alone, Akiko."

"Yeah?"

"And I think…that I don't mind being alone, too. At least for a while."

"What does that mean?" Akiko didn't seem to like this. Her face was mere inches from his, but he didn't flinch at her suspicious frown. "Whatever you have to say, say it outright, kid. Hey, are you listening to me? _Kid_."

Souta smiled and looked out into the starry valley, ignoring Akiko's angry prodding. He didn't have the words to explain himself yet, but he promised himself that someday he would find them and say everything he had meant to say. She gave up and sulked next to him, but as the night wore on, her posture relaxed, and he thought that he could see a smile on her face too.

She knew.

They stayed there until dawn, when even Akiko began to nod off. Souta was stirred from his dozing when she shook herself awake and gave a long, loud yawn. Wiping the drool on his face with the back of his hand, he blinked tiredly in the pre-dawn haze and sat up.

"Where are we going?" he mumbled, and amazingly, she heard him. Her head snapped in his direction and she said brightly, "Let's see if Kaede-sama is finished delivering that baby so we can have breakfast with her."

"Baby?"

"You were really out of it last night, weren't you?" Akiko quirked a brow at him, hovering over him until he followed suit and stood up. "Kaede-sama was right; you aren't exactly the strong type."

His unamused stare sent her into a fit of laughter. When she calmed down, the girl galloped toward the torii and disappeared over the edge with a laugh. "Come on, kid!"

"Wait, Akiko!" He rushed to the edge of the steps and yelled as loud as he could. "Call me Souta!"

The girl laughed over her shoulder, "Still too weak, Souta!"

He gave what felt like the first real laugh since he had fallen down the well yesterday morning and followed, letting her keep her head start as she led him back to the village. Near the bottom of the stairs, Akiko stopped, looking back at Souta with a genuine smile. Her dark hair got caught in the wind and lit up in shades of gold, falling across her face and hiding her smile for a moment. When she pushed her hair out of her face, his own smile was already gone.

"Sou-"

He remembered being yanked away, a heavy hand clamping over his mouth, and seeing Akiko's terrified face before everything went dark.


End file.
